Ch.12Chapter 12. Why Am I Not the Hero?

“……Ah.”

Indeed, only such a gasp barely broke the silence.

The building.

As if it had never existed in that place to begin with, the massive structure had vanished without a trace, leaving only its foundation behind.

“AAAAAAHHH!”

And then a scream erupted from within.

When I finally came to my senses, I realized.

Only one person who had been outside the range of the inexplicable phenomenon she had caused—someone who had just come up from underground—had barely managed to survive.

“W-what? What the hell happened here?! W-where did everyone else…? Kuheck!”

But before he could fully grasp the situation, she had somehow closed the distance and positioned herself looking down at him.

“A p-person.”

A survivor.

Facing the sole survivor of a criminal organization that had completely vanished, she smiled at him.

“Hehe, r-right. For now, I need someone to question.”

“W-what are you? D-don’t come any closer… Huh?”

A stream of blood burst from his flailing hand.

Seeing the empty space, his eyes trembled, and a dull gasp escaped his lips.

“M-my hand, where did it…?”

As if he couldn’t feel the pain despite his missing hand.

Just staring at the empty space with a stupid expression.

“Hey, you know.”

But she gave him no respite.

As if still unable to control her emotions, she breathed heavily and pointed her finger elsewhere.

“You took my research, didn’t you? Where is my research?”

“What are you talk—AAGH!”

“My research, my research…”

With each utterance of the word “research,” another limb disappeared.

Next went his side, then his shoulder…

“Where is my research?”

Finally, when her finger pointed at his head.

“AAAAH! S-stop! STOP!! I-it’s in the b-basement! The stolen goods are in the basement, so p-please stop!”

The survivor screamed with only his chest and head remaining.

No, could he even be called alive at this point?

With only his mouth remaining, he would soon be no different from the corpses in that puddle.

“Oh, in the b-basement, you say?”

Looking down at the man in such a miserable state, she formed a sinister smile and withdrew her attention.

“Then I just need to go there, which means you’re no longer useful, right?”

“W-what?”

-SPLAT!

His head disappeared as quickly as she snapped her fingers.

As the remaining torso collapsed with a thud, silence fell over the place.

That was the end.

Blood River’s headquarters and all its members…

Without even becoming a river of blood as their name suggested, all traces of them were completely erased from this world.

“…Woo.”

She was the only one left at the now-empty scene.

“Hyoseong Woo, right? That was the housekeeper’s name.”

My name left her lips, but I couldn’t feel any sense of reality in it.

Even though my heart was pounding and I could clearly feel the rain from the sky soaking my body.

“S-sorry. I’m not good at remembering people’s names… Everyone here just looked like insects to me.”

Insects…

Compared to the woman before me, I was nothing but an insect.

The only difference between me and the corpses that had just stopped twitching was one thing.

Whether she remembered me or not.

“He-hehe. It’s strange that I remember the housekeeper’s name so clearly…”

Just that one difference.

The fact that it determined life or death in this casually committed atrocity seemed utterly surreal to me.

“Well. Now that it’s all over, let’s go back after finding what I need.”

I couldn’t even process the words “go back” immediately…

Yes, go back? Did I even have such a place to begin with?

When countless people stronger than me had died from an inexplicable phenomenon for reasons I couldn’t understand, was it really okay for me alone to survive?

“Why are you trembling like that?”

Something indescribable.

What would probably be defined as fear was dominating me, and I became aware of it through the voice that reached my ears.

I came to my senses shortly after.

“Y-yes?”

“Your body is trembling.”

“Ah, that’s. Well…”

I clutched the part she pointed at with my other hand, realizing my hand was still there.

Yes, it hadn’t disappeared yet. Not yet.

But it might soon.

If I were to upset her.

“I-it’s just a bit cold… Ha-haha. It’s raining after all.”

So I tried to maintain my composure and act as I had before.

Because that’s what I needed to do to survive.

As a mere human facing a woman who could cause phenomena that even those called Heroes might not be able to handle, the only way to survive was to stay on her good side.

“S-so. I guess we should h-head back now. Yes. Have some hot tea and w-warm up…”

“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

She whispered to me in a low voice, as if uncovering the true feelings I was trying to hide.

“Because you can’t understand.”

With her eyes half-open and a faint smile on her lips,

She spoke the emotions I was feeling toward her at this moment.

“Because you can’t understand, you’re afraid of me. Right?”

-Pitter-patter.

The rain poured down heavily.

Despite the cold and pain that should have made my mouth open, my stiffened lips showed no signs of moving.

Because I couldn’t understand, just as she said.

Someone who could erase a person’s head just by pointing a finger, who could blow away an entire area just by snapping her fingers…

How could a mere human like me possibly understand someone who could cause such absurd phenomena that couldn’t even be called magic?

“Housekeeper. Do you know what a witch is?”

As I trembled in silence, she began to introduce herself.

“Witches were a race that did terrible things in the past.”

This was a story I didn’t know.

What witches were, what atrocities they committed.

“So they were all captured and killed long ago, but the people at the magic tower say I’m the only one who inherited their blood.”

But I now understood their danger.

Perhaps they were such a threat to humanity, even more than the Demon Tribe or vampires, that they had to be completely eliminated when the opportunity arose…

“I don’t care about any of that. I just want to see my mother again… so I’m lending them my power, but something keeps getting in the way.”

Drip, drip.

The blood flowing from the corpses that had finally stopped twitching was being washed away by the rain.

Bothered by the remaining puddle, she pointed her finger at it and voiced her doubt.

“Is it because I’m trying to achieve a goal I shouldn’t?”

Snap!

With the flick of her finger, the remains disappeared.

All that was left was an empty lot.

“Or is it because I’m a monster that shouldn’t be welcomed?”

That was the end of it.

Those who had crossed her were erased from this world without a trace, just like that.

“…Well, I guess the housekeeper won’t give me an answer.”

With a chuckle, she reached her hand into the air.

Moving her fingers as if unzipping something, she grabbed what fell through the split rift.

“Here, take this.”

What dropped before me was a leather pouch.

The gold coins inside were equivalent to what I would earn in two years.

No, perhaps even more… enough money to change someone’s life even in this declining world.

“I’ve given you extra compensation. You’re the first person who’s helped me this much.”

But it probably meant nothing to her.

She didn’t find it precious, nor did she expect gratitude for the additional reward.

“But I guess it’s impossible to stay together now?”

What was drawn on her face was disappointment, regret…

A bitter feeling stemming from the knowledge that I, now aware of her true nature, could no longer be with her.

“Yeah, what you’ve done so far is enough, so it’s better to end it here.”

With those emotions, she turned her back, preparing to leave.

Goodbye.

As if leaving behind a farewell that might last forever, ending her connection with me.

“W-wait!”

My mouth opened before that farewell could be uttered.

“Wait a moment, please. Miss Vivian.”

Even though it might provoke her and get my neck blown off, I wanted to say something to her.

Unable to pick up the money pouch that had fallen to the ground, or to flee from that spot.

“N-next time.”

I wanted to tell her something that I might never get to say if not now.

Toward this walking calamity that a normal human couldn’t possibly understand, if…

If by any chance I were given another opportunity to meet her.

“If there’s a chance next time, c-could I clean your room again…?”

If the day ever comes when someone as insignificant as me is given the opportunity to stay by her side.

“…Sure, if there’s a chance.”

To my words, Vivian moved her hand through the air without looking back at me.

With a voice cooled by the still-falling rain.

“Let’s meet again if the opportunity arises.”

With a promise that had no proper guarantee, she disappeared from my sight, vanishing without a trace.

That was the end.

I had survived once again.

From a calamity more terrifying than any monster I had faced before, one called a witch.

“…A calamity?”

Such thoughts filled my mind, but then I shook my head, clutching my face as rationality returned.

“No, not a calamity. Just…”

Until I knew her true nature, she was someone I wanted to be with.

I even felt joy at being a source of dependence for her, someone who needed support.

Even after she left, I tried to stop her footsteps, disregarding my own life.

“Just a person.”

Because she remembered me and was one of the few people who showed me kindness.

The desire to stay by such a person’s side remained in a corner of my heart, even now that I knew her true nature.

“But I…”

I felt only regret.

Because at this moment, I realized how utterly powerless a human I was.

“Why am I…”

Just because of bad luck.

Because I felt disgusted with this wretched situation where I could only feel relief at surviving.

“Why am I not a Hero?”

A world where you can’t even muster the courage to speak to a woman you like if you don’t have power.

Isn’t that truly the worst?

****

The Magic Tower.

A place where all knowledge achieved by humanity in this world is recorded, and where the crystallization of exploration based on that knowledge is built up.

Entering there is the secret wish of all magicians and scholars, and such recognition had spread to the outside world in the current era of crisis for humanity’s survival.

Yes, they believed they were humanity’s hope. And to be that hope, they thought they could do anything.

For those who held such thoughts, anyone who interfered with them deserved to disappear, even if it was the emperor of the empire.

“Ah, aah…!”

But there was one being that even the leader of such people dared not defy.

A woman who had entered this magic tower just three minutes ago, destroyed all defense systems, and erased the heads of all the guards she encountered from this world.

Literally erased them.

Not cut, not burned to ashes, but completely removed from this world.

“Tower Master.”

If he hadn’t withdrawn all defensive forces in advance and decided to face her directly, the casualties would not have ended with just a few.

Realizing this as he looked at the bodies scattered across the tower plaza, his gaze turned to the woman standing in the center of the twitching corpses.

To the woman looking up at him as he stood on the stairs, wearing a pointed hat like a witch from a fairy tale.

“I heard the culprit who ordered the theft of my research is here.”

But what came from her mouth was by no means gentle.

Not even a sweet deception like a poisoned fruit that starts sweetly… as if teaching that a real witch is not an ambiguous being like in fairy tales.

“…Tell me now.”

Vivian Platonis.

The sole bloodline survivor of the witch hunts from when humanity was still prosperous, and the “last hope” invited by the Magic Tower as the savior in the current era when humanity faces collapse.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll eliminate everything I encounter until I find it.”

If her demands were not met, humanity would perish.

Either by the hand of this living calamity called a witch.

Or by humanity itself preventing the salvation that could be achieved by her hands.